Description

Mill Hill, London.

Exterior. M/S of "stage and recording star" Dennis Lotis digging in his garden. C/U of a fork being driven into the ground. C/U of Dennis smoking a pipe. M/S of Dennis as he straightens, throws the fork down and marches towards his house. M/S of Dennis walking towards the front door, tilt down to Dennis's wellington boots as he removes them and skips into the house. C/U of a glass house sign above the door that reads 'Denree', after Dennis and his wife, Rena.

Interior. M/S of a chair in the corner of Dennis' study. Dennis sits down and looks at his collection of pipes. M/S of Dennis admiring an unusual shaped pipe. He places the pipe on the table and picks up a small round pipe with a long tube attached. He places the tube in his mouth and pretends to smoke it. C/U of Dennis' hand placing the round pipe on top of one of his own records, titled 'How About You?'. Dennis picks up another pipe shaped to look like a comical face. C/U of two racks of Dennis' pipes. The narrator explains that Dennis has over 200 hundred pipes - some gifts from fans, some rare exhibits - "like many other stars he has developed a couple of hobbies to offset the nervous strain and demands of show business". Dennis picks his favourite pipe from the rack - a gift from his wife. C/U of Dennis lighting his pipe and smiling off camera. C/U of a rack of pipes on the wall, tilt up to show the Royal Invitation to appear at the London Palladium. C/U of the invitation.

Exterior. M/S of a turquoise bubble car pulling up outside Dennis' house. The front of the car opens and Dennis' wife and two sons get out. M/S of Rena and the boys walking up the garden path to the front door.

Interior. M/S of Dennis sitting in his study. Rena enters at gives him a kiss and nods her head towards the living room. M/S of the living room. The boys are playing with a train set. Dennis made his first stage appearance aged of nine in a talent show in South Africa. He left school at 15 and became a bus conductor. M/S of Rena helping Dennis out of his chair, they walk off holding hands. Dennis and Rena join their sons. Top shot of the family playing with the train set - "despite his success Dennis has remained first and foremost a family man and playing with his sons and their train set is one of his greatest pleasures". M/S of Dennis and his eldest son, Damon, operating the train controls. M/S of Rena and the younger son playing with the signals. C/U of the toy train passing over a crossing, past an array of matchbox cars. C/U of the younger son watching the trains. C/U of Dennis laughing. Various C/Us of Dennis and his youngest son laughing. C/U of Dennis' hands operating the controls. C/U of the younger son watching the train crashing.

M/S of Rena sitting in front of the fire, looking through a pile of letters on her lap. Dennis joins her. He takes a seat and strokes an Alsatian puppy, Astra, lying by the fire. Dennis takes a large book from the fireplace and leans on it as he signs photographs for his fans (he signs about 800 a week). Rena leans over and reads something from one of the letters. C/U of Astra. C/U of Dennis' face as he signs the photos. C/U of Rena. C/U of the photos.

Panning shot of "over thirty" various sweaters draped over a sofa sent to Dennis by his fans. M/S of Rena and Dennis sitting by the fire. The two boys enter dressed in their dressing gowns and sit at their parents and pet the dog.

10 telling images selected from British Pathé's extensive WWI footage. 'The war to end all wars' was a war without parallel: over 70 million military personnel were involved and over 17 million people died.